1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to jewelry, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing an article of jewelry with a spent shotgun shell cartridge and to the article of jewelry incorporating the spent shotgun shell cartridge.
2. Related Art
Using recycled goods to create jewelry is generally well known. Some jewelry includes bullet casings, for example, shotgun cartridges. However, utilizing an entire shotgun cartridge may result in the jewelry being bulky and or heavy. Accordingly, it is desired to create jewelry that incorporates a portion of the head of the cartridge in a way that reduces the profile of the casing to be less than the full cartridge head. Accordingly, the casing can be cut to the desired profile width. The cartridge head includes a primer that typically extends farther than the desired thickness of the casing profile and must also be cut to be able to use the portion of the cartridge head in standard jewelry settings that have a flat base.
There are a number of methods in which the cartridge head of the shotgun shell can be cut, but the primer will become dislocated from its position in the center of the cartridge head's base. For example, the rotating action of a lathe at its standard speed and the standard cutting bit that are used to cut the cartridge casing and plastic insert, result in a disruption of the manufacturer fitted primer and compromises the primer's position. Previous methods for preparing shotgun shell cartridges for jewelry did not provide any mechanism for cutting through cartridge casing, plastic insert and the primer in a way that would preserve the primer in its original position within the cartridge. Accordingly, there has remained a need for a method whereby the end of a shotgun shell cartridge can be cut in such a way so that the resulting head can be mounted on a jewelry setting without having to reset or otherwise reconnect the primer to the cut head portion.